Given that I’ve been cramming for exams all day, I don’t have much on my radar as far as discussion items go, but here’s one thing: what the heck is up with Bob Kerrey?
Share what’s on your mind.
Sunday Update: Former State Rep. Glen Maxley over at Burnt Orange Report brings us this fun report of a wildly successful DSCC fundraiser in San Antonio this weekend. The event brought in $1.1 million, far surpassing its $150,000 goal and doubling the record of any DSCC fundraiser in Texas history. There’s some other interesting tidbits included in the report as well, including the fact that Schumer considers Texas a possible pick-up state in 2008 (of course, what else would he say in Texas?), and some eyebrow-raising poll numbers from Kentucky, where Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Ben Chandler are apparently tied in a hypothetical matchup.
This is the same guy who leaked info that he wanted to run for mayor of NYC against Bloomberg last time around. New School wasn’t having much of it and reminded him of his contract and he backed down quickly. It takes quite an ego to think you are the solution to running NYC and then while living in NYC to think you are the answer for your party’s senate needs back in Nebraska. Maybe he can be Biden’s VP.
Can’t remember this being discussed before. Let’s say one of the six U.S. Senators (Biden, Brownback, Clinton, Dodd, McCain and Obama) currently running for president wins. Who would be the leading replacement candidates?
Democratic Appointments:
Arizona
Delaware
Illinois
Kansas
New York
Republican Appointment:
Connecticut
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Corporation Commissioner Denise Bode said Friday she is resigning effective May 31 to lead a new natural gas foundation in Washington, D.C.
Bode, a Republican, said she is in the process of forming the American Clean Skies Foundation, which will be part of the national energy debate.
‘Today, there is a national debate on climate change and energy,’ she said. ‘We see policymakers promoting alternative fuels such as wind, solar, biofuels and nuclear. These are all legitimate alternatives — although some much less than others — yet none can offer energy in great abundance at a reasonable price any time soon.
‘On the other hand, burning natural gas instead of the principal alternatives reduces greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 50 percent. We intend to make natural gas not only part of the debate, but the solution.’
She said she has talked to officials in the natural gas industry, including Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp., but the foundation ‘is not going to be a Chesapeake entity.’
Democratic Gov. Brad Henry will name a replacement for Bode, who was appointed to the commission in 1997 by former GOP Gov. Frank Keating.
During her time on the panel, which sets rates for utility companies, Bode ran unsuccessfully for attorney general and the U.S. House.
Her current term expires in 2010.
However Her replacement needs to run for the rest of her term in 08
He does this a lot. (Remember when he was going to run for mayor of NYC)? I did find it interesting that he asked Paul Johnson, who ran campaigns for Kerrey, and more recently for Fahey and Nelson, to commission a poll. But the whole “1%” thing tells me his heart’s not really in it. In fact, the Lincoln Journal Star headline reads “Kerrey to say no to Senate race.”
So, what have we learned in Nebraska politics over the last week?
– Lee Terry’s probably running for reelection, not for the Senate. If he were still making noise about running for Senate, it’s highly doubtful that Jon Bruning and Hal Daub would have contributed to his campaign.
– Adrian Smith’s numbers don’t look particularly strong. $94K COH is nothing to sneeze at, but he’s also got $29K in debt, and Kleeb’s still sitting at $64K COH without raising a dime this quarter. The real key is that almost all of Smith’s money is coming from large donors and PACs. That’s going to be difficult to sustain.
– Jon Bruning’s running for Senate. God help us all.
– Mike Fahey’s making sure he’s got his reelection fundraising in order, but he hasn’t ruled out a Senate run just yet – and if Hagel decides not to run, I suspect he’ll jump in.
It turned out to be a pretty busy week.
Lot’s of money raised at the DSCC event hosted by Mark Iola in Dallas Friday.
In addition, I hear Sen. Schumer met with OK State Sen. Andrew Rice and responded positively in regards to any potential run against Inhofe. Many of us here in Oklahoma have organized a petition to draft Andrew into the race. He’s indicated a sincere willingness to consider it and we’ve had some success gathering signatures so far. Nearly 200 people have signed on in the first 72 hours. Pretty good consiering we have no real organized databases and it’s mostly forwards from signators driving traffic.
You can help us out if you want to visit http://www.runandrew….
Back to my original thought… a fellow State Senator attended the Dallas FR with Andrew and reports back that DSCC numbers show Inhofe has problems as well. He gets wounded badly on support for the war and his shenanigans on the environment. Who better to nominate than Andrew. He won’t go limp on his oposition to the war and he’s got a strong record with environmentalists.
Before anyone tries to evoke the names Henry, Boren or Edmonson as “better candidates”, you should know it looks like they’ve tried all three and missed each time. We’re working hard to get Andrew into this thing. Hopefully we can be successful.
If Sparks does decide to challenge Sessions, is there any chance of Vivian Davis Figures opting for a Congressional run instead? I’ve read that her state senate district is actually GOP-leaning and was curious if she’d play well in a House race – or is Jo Bonner (AL-01) not even that vulnerable?
Keep MO-6 on your scorecard for possible turnover in the 2008 congressional elections. The Missouri Democratic Party is serious about recruiting a top tier challenger and TMP Cafe is reporting that Kathy Barnes Mayor of Kansas City is finally stepping up to the plate.
If Kay Barnes gets in, MO-6 shoots up to Top 20 and maybe even top 10 for Congressional turnover opportunities for the Democrats in 2008.
Many races – a lot for this early – are being looked at by pretty serious folks. In addition to the many re-runs (Kissell, Burner, Wulsin, Massa, Kilroy, Maffei), there are a few seats that are set to be contested by elected officials that have records indicating they’ll clearly make it a race.
OH-1 – State Sen. Dreihaus
WV-2 – State Sen. Unger
MO-6 – Barnes, as mentioned above
I know there are a few others, but those three come quickly to mind. I feel like we’ll have a broad enough offense that it’ll make it easier to play defense.
Apparently John Doolittle insists he’s running again. I think he’d be easier to beat than “generic Republican.”
Does anyone know how Claire McCaskill did in the MO-6 last year?
Bush beat Kerry 57%-43% in the district. Democrats should fair better there next year, but I’m wondering how much better.
Also, how much did the state legislature gerrymander the district since Pat Danner left in 2000?